Verlander, Ordonez lift Tigers over Red Sox

May 16, 2007 - 4:02 AM
BOSTON (Ticker) -- For one night at Fenway Park, speed mattered
- and not on the basepaths.

Magglio Ordonez slammed a three-run home run and Justin
Verlander outpitched Tim Wakefield as the Detroit Tigers pinned
a 7-2 defeat on the Boston Red Sox.

Verlander, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year,
shrugged off a shaky first inning and was dominant thereafter in
snapping the three-game winning streak of Boston, which has the
best record in the major leagues (26-12).

"We got everything and more," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of
Verlander's outing. "We needed something like that. He had
everything going early. He had pretty good command and didn't
walk anybody. Pretty good stuff you saw tonight from a pretty
good pitcher."

The pitching matchup presented quite a contrast in styles, with
Verlander hitting 99 miles per hour on the radar gun - 30 to 40
mph faster than Wakefield's soft serves.

"He had everything going," Leyland said. "He reached back a
little back but it was pretty easy. Sometimes when he reaches
back he labors a little bit but tonight it was pretty easy. He
hit 99 a few times and 100 once. I don't know if the gun was
juiced up a little bit but he was throwing pretty good."

"He was throwing his fastball that came close to 100," Red Sox
manager Terry Francona said. "What really complements that,
though, is his off-speed is so good. It seemed like the first
hitter of each inning, he got us out quick. We were trying to
work pitch counts and he was ready to pitch right away every
inning."

In winning his third straight start, Verlander (4-1) bounced
back after allowing three hits and a run in the Red Sox's first
at-bat. He averted more damage by getting Mike Lowell, who had
10 hits in his last 23 at-bats, on a fielder's choice grounder.

"I thought that was big," Verlander said of his first-inning
escape. "With their lineup, I knew one run wasn't going to be
the end of the game. So I just went out there from that point
forward and just decided to bear down and not give up any more
and my teammates stepped up big for me."

The 24-year-old righthander allowed two runs and six hits,
ending his night after giving up a two-out solo home run to
Kevin Youkilis in the eighth inning.

"Yeah, I think that was the best I've thrown this year,"
Verlander said. "I had good command and was able to throw my
breaking ball for strikes. I was trying to take the ballpark,
the players and everything out of it and really just pitch my
game and not think about who was hitting, who was on-deck or who
was in the hole and just make my pitches and take it one batter
at a time."

Detroit broke the game open with four runs in the eighth against
reliever Brendan Donnelly with three straight two-out RBI hits
for a 7-1 lead..

Ivan Rodriguez went 3-for-4 and Brandon Inge had a solo home for
the Tigers, who had lost their last two games but were picked
up by Verlander.

"He pitched tremendously," Rodriguez said. "He threw a lot of
strikes and threw over 100 pitches but more than 50 percent were
for strikes on the first pitch. His breaking ball was very
good today. He always has his fastball but his breaking ball
was very good tonight."

Wakefield (4-4) quietly has put together one of the best seasons
by a pitcher in the major leagues, leading the American League
in ERA (1.79) and tossing 14 scoreless innings in his previous
two starts.

The 40-year-old righthander's shutout streak came to a crashing
halt in the third inning as Wakefield served up a pair of home
runs in a four-run outburst by the Tigers.

Inge slammed a one-out shot into the bullpen to tie it at 1-1.
Right fielder J.D. Drew appeared to have a chance to catch the
ball but crashed hard into the wall and tumbled to the ground.

Drew suffered a lower back contusion and left the game in the
seventh. He is day-to-day.

Curtis Granderson singled, stole second and moved to third on
Gary Sheffield's infield single. Ordonez, now 15-for-32 (.469)
lifetime against Wakefield, then cleared the bases with a
towering three-run homer to left to hike the margin to 4-1.

"I got ahead of him 0-1 and threw a pitch that just broke right
into his wheelhouse," Wakefield said. "Unfortunately, it
happens that way and in that situation it was a three-run homer
and kind of put us out of the game."

It was the eight homer of the season for Ordonez and gave him 37
RBI, second in the American League to the New York Yankees'
Alex Rodriguez.

Wakefield again was in trouble in the fourth, allowing three
singles, but he escaped unscathed when left fielder Manny
Ramirez gunned down Rodriguez at the plate on a single by
Granderson.

Wakefield settled down from there, retiring seven straight
batters before departing after walking Sheffield to lead off the
eight. He allowed five runs and nine hits, striking out four
and not walking a batter.

Boston had taken a 1-0 lead in its first at-bat against
Verlander, stringing together three singles, including one by
Drew that plated Youkilis.

The Red Sox did not have another scoring chance until the sixth,
when David Ortiz doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch,
but Verlander retired Drew on a flyout to center.

ALAT BOSTON - SCORING UPDATETHREE-RUN HOME RUN BY MAGGLIO ORDONEZ (8) TO LEFT WITH 2 OUT IN THE 3RD OFF TIM WAKEFIELD SCORED CURTIS GRANDERSON AND GARY SHEFFIELD.CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 4, BOSTON 1DUE UP FOR DETROIT: C GUILLEN (.318, 0-FOR-1)